Garment.



No. 675,498. Patented May 2a, |901. H. H. cooms.

GARMENT.'

(Application led Oct. 13, 1899.)

(No Modul.)

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Il '1, nu "1m nl! "Il Il 'l N @brown/gal UNITED STATES PATENT' OFFICE.

HARRIET'I, H. COOMBS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.Vv

GARNIENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 675,198, dated May 28, 1901.

Application led October 13, 1899. Serial No. 733,494.. (No nodel.)

To all whom it may concern: Y

Beit known that vI, HARRIETT H. CooMBs, a citizen of the United States,residin g at Brooklyn, in the city and State of' New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garments; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact de` scription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it apperta'ins to make and use the same.

This invention relates'to anew and useful improvement in garments; and its object, among other things, is to provide a one-piece garment which will have every appearance of being formed of a separate skirt and waist, to employ a seam of special construction for joining the waist and skirt in one piece, and for utilizing said seam as a casing for a lacing-string.

In one-piece garments heretofore made it has been the custom to cut the front portion l in one piece, the necessary gathers Vbeing taken in at the neck and bust. It is generally desirable to construct a garment with the front of the waist as full and puffy as possible; but heretofore the amount of such fullness has been limited in view of the fact that the same is carried down thefront of the skirt, which feature is very detrimental to the appearance of the garmentand does not permit it to hang or set properly..

It is well known that all dresses are now formed with the skirt-front as-plain as possi-- ble and with all the fullness, if any, at the back and sides. This 4result has hitherto been difficult of attainment in one-piece garments.

The term one piece garment as used herein is not to be construed as actually meaning that the different parts of the garment are builtup out of one piece of fabric, but, on the contrary, comprise separate parts secured together at the waist-line.

The invention also consists in the novel constructions and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, showing the prefrered form of my invention, andin which-- Figure lis a view of a garment embodying my invention, and Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the garment opened. Fig. 3 is a plan view of a section of the garment prior to the formation of the casing, and Fig. 4. is a section through the casing.

Referring to said figures by letters of reference, A is a waist which is suitably gathered at the bottom at the desired points,as in front, and B is the skirt, which is smooth in front, as shown. These two portions of the garment after being properly formed are then sewed together at their adjacent edges in a special manner. One of the edges, as C, is doubled forward upon itself and adapted to hook upon the other rearwardlydoubled edge D. Stitches are then sewed along the smooth edges, E and F showing one on the inner side and the other on the outer side of thegarment, theserstitches and the doubled portion of the skirt and waist forming a casing for the reception of a suitable lacingstring, as G. By this construction it will be seen that a one-piece garment is obtained in which the front of the waist may be formed of gathered or plaited 1naterial,while the adjacent portion of the skirt is smooth.

By means of the string or strings G the garment can be adj usted to the girth ofthe wearer without producing excessive fullness in the skirt-front, such as has heretofore marred the appearance of this style of garment. Also by forming the casing within the seam between the two parts A and B the gathering thereof by the string will be at the waist-line at all times, thus obviating the annoyance, the., oftentimes occasioned by misplacing the vcasing when sewed tothe garment, as heretofore.

A belt, as H,may be Worn with the garment to conceal the stitches at the point of juncture between the two parts, thereby giving the garment the exact appearance of a twopiece suit and making it equally adapted for house or street Wear.

By dividing the garment at the waist-line in front I a'm enabled to so shape the skirt portion that it will lit closely and smoothly in front without in any degree diminishing the fullness of the Waist portion. vIn this way I provide a one-piece garment which closely simulates a two -piece suit. Furthermore, the present construction prevents the mis- IOO placing of the casing, as often occurs when it is formed separately, destroying the fit of the garment.

It will be seen that a garment made in aecordanee with my invention will not possess the undesirable fullness in the skirt and that a large percentage of the material will be saved.

In the foregoing description I have shown the preferred form of my invention; but I do not limit myself thereto, as I am aware that modifications may be made therein Without departing from the spirit or sacrificing the advantages thereof, and I therefore reserve the right to make such changes as fairly fall Within the scope of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I therefore claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A one-piece garment divided in front to form skirt and Waist portions, the edges of said Waist and skirt portions being bent back on themselves and overlapped so as to interlock and form a casing for a lacing-string.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARRIETT H. COOMBS.

Witnesses:

ROBERT E. LOWE, MARGARET A. FITZGERALD. 

